Welcome to the American English Pronunciation Guide. My name is Trevor Kafka, and I am your host. There are many different varieties of American English. I was born and raised in New York, which has given me General American English pronunciation. The English that I speak has 15 vowel sounds. Please view the transcript for help while listening. Today, we will talk about the vowel sound number 2 of 15: /eɪ/ grey day. This vowel is what we call a diphthong, meaning that it’s really two vowel sounds smooshed together as one. The mouth begins very open when the sound begins, but then turns into a smile as the teeth come together. Listen to me saying this sound and repeat: /eɪ/, /eɪ/, /eɪ/ Listen to and repeat the following single-syllable words: gray day pain whale waste straight tail wait shade Listen to and repeat the following multiple-syllable words: chamber embrace greatest labor vacation translate Canadian information Listen to and repeat the following sentences: The way you say “gray” makes my day quite okay. I embrace the shade to stay out of the sun’s rays. The greatest of Canadian vacations have no space for rain. I would like to thank Shirley Thompson and Karen Taylor for their work in developing the set of key phrases that I use with each vowel, such as /æ/ black cat, /eɪ/ grey day, etc.